


Sibling Skies

by Night-Mare (Aoife)



Series: Almost More Storm Than Sky [3]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Author loves to chat in the Comments, Chosen Siblings, Flame Active Character(s), Flame Theory and Lore, Fluffiest Fluffy Fluff that Fluffed, Gen, POV Dino, Sawada Iemitsu's A+ Parenting, Unconventional Uses for Dying Will Flames, Varia Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 04:59:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10482618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare
Summary: What happens when Dino returns to Japan at the end of Chapter 19 ofAlmost More Storm Than Sky. Or Dino teaching Tsuna a few Sky Flame tricks (as referred to in passing inSky to Sky), and being a good big brother.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This kind of ran away with me, and most definitely doesn't fit the tone of the main [Almost More Storm Than Sky](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8940949) story, which is Varia focused. But it was fun to write, and I suspect others will appreciate the fluff, and the Flame Lore.

"I thought I told you to handle Tsuna's Cloud, baka-Dino." Reborn raised an eyebrow at him, his presence unexpected.

"You did. But as you can't teach Tsuna at least two Sky Flame tricks he's going to need to keep his Will his own when Iemitsu and Xanxus start throwing their Flames around, I'm borrowing my little brother for the afternoon, Reborn." The Arcobaleno's lips curled into an approving smile at the Cavallone's show of backbone.

"An afternoon, then. He's nearly figured out zero-point, and a change is nearly as good as a rest; just make sure Hibari is out of Namimori within the next 24hrs, Dino." Reborn turned to the coffee machine that Mama had bought for him, and Dino crossed to the bottom of the stairs.

"Tsuna!" The younger Sky came running, and Dino dragged him into a hug. "I've got that information you wanted, and Reborn's agreed to let me borrow you for long enough to show you a few useful tricks with your Sky. Short of Dying Will Mode and the gloves, I mean. Can we use your room?"

Rather than answer him, he was promptly dragged up the stairs to a bedroom far tidier than it had once been.

"Firstly the politics of what's going on have gotten really weird, and I want you to keep an open mind for me," he paused until Tsuna had nodded. "Basil, the kid from a few days ago is fine; he's got a Sky who gives a shit about him now. The second point, which leads on from that is that no matter what Reborn - or anyone else for that matter - says, the Varia are not your enemy, Tsuna. I swear that on my Familiga, understand?"

Tsuna's eyes widened at that oath. He was well aware of what the other Sky had done to piece his Familiga back together again.

"Third. Come what may, the Ring Battles will happen. Certain people are too invested in them; but we'll make sure your people survive them, Tsuna. Even if we have to bend the rules to their snapping point. But enough of that. Can you reach your Flames on your own? Not Dying Will Mode, but just, well, watch -" his Boss ring glowed with a visible Orange flame.

"I, no, don't know? No one's shown me how to." Dino winced at the way his little brother folded in on himself. He wanted to hug the kid again, and interpose himself between Tsuna and the oncoming storm.

Instead he fished another ring out of his pocket. "It's not something Reborn taught me either. My father did; it has its uses, but mostly it's just a party trick, but it'll get you used to drawing out your Flames."

Dino hoped Xanxus would at least allow him to punch Iemitsu once or twice before he killed him. The damage they'd done to his little brother with the Seal on him, and Iemitsu's neglect. He'd hated his father at times, but at least the man had been there and tried to be a parent!

He held the Ring, the one his father had used to teach him out and Tsuna slipped it onto his thumb, the only place it would fit.

"I'm going to light it for you, Tsuna. Just feel, okay?" He pulled out a thread of his own Flame and wound it round one of the tendrils of Tsuna's Sky he could see if he concentrated. He then pushed both into the ring's gem as gently as he could. It blazed to life.

Tsuna’s eyes widened again, and his lips formed a silent ‘O’. Dino willed the Flame to go out.

“Did you feel that? I can do it again, if you need me to?” Tsuna shook his head, and then there was a Flame, shining so brilliantly Dino had to shield his eyes. “Gentle, kiddo. It’s not a very high quality Ring; it won’t take the full force of your Flame. Can you dim it bit? Use less Flame.” He lit his own Ring and demonstrated it.

When Tsuna had that down, he gave into his urge to hug his little brother again. “That took me more than a month to learn. I’m impressed. Now the first trick I wanted to teach you,” he flared his own Flames, allowing them to thicken around him, the way he did when he was checking that his men weren’t lying to him about injuries after a fight, “is how to read another Sky’s Flames. Reborn’s explained about the properties of our Flame, right?”

Tsuna nodded, still staring at the Flame-lit ring on his finger.

“Right. Did he mention that because our Flame wants things to be in Harmony with us, it can also end up carrying a flavour of our emotions?” He pushed everything he felt for Tsuna, including his fierce protectiveness for the younger Sky, into his Flames. “Close your eyes and tell me what you feel, Tsuna-kun.” He wrapped the Flames around his little brother and watched as a blush suffused his face.

Tsuna buried himself in Dino’s side, hugging him back just as fiercely. “But I’m just Dame-Tsuna, Dino-nii. Why?” His non-answer was muffled in the older Sky’s coat.

Dino cursed Iemitsu and everyone else who’d failed the little Sky he had curled into his side. “Because you’re adorable, Tsuna. Because you’ve spent seven years surviving something that should have broken you, and another year of Reborn, who I know is a sadist, and you’re still  _you_. Still a Sky capable of accepting anyone; because our blasted tutor told me I had a little brother, and something clicked in my head.” Tsuna burrowed closer, basking in the Flames he was still radiating. “But kiddo, I want you to survive the next few weeks, too, which means you need to learn the rest of what I have to teach you today, before I go back to being beaten on by Kyoya. But -“ he stopped and thought, “I can promise at least two more of those Flame hugs today, and I need to think about something while you’re practising, ‘kay?”

There was a nod against his side, so he took that as an acknowledgement.

“So, that was a really benign use of Flames. But -“ he hesitated, debating whether to name names, but refrained from doing so, “a strong Sky can use their Flames to push their Will on another Sky, and on other, un-bonded Flame Users. You can use your Flames as a sort of Shield against that. It’s one of the reasons Skies are valued as Bosses; we’re far harder for other Flame Users, namely Mists and Skies, to manipulate. Push some of your Flames to the top layer of your skin; it’s just like lighting the Ring,” he could feel Tsuna do just that, though he was only managing it patchily, it was a good first attempt, “you’re doing really well, Tsuna-kun. Keep working on that, until you can cover your whole body in a layer, and then I’ll explain what you can do with that. I’m going to get us both some drinks from the kitchen; Flames are thirsty work. Keep practising for me?” His barnacle nodded, but straightened up and he was pleased to see him looking more relaxed than he had.

He could feel Tsuna wrestling with his Flames as he went down the stairs; Romario and Reborn were both at the dining table, and he was amused to see that they were still as much friends as they had been when Reborn was still training him full time.

His former tutor was explaining a trick to do with their shared Flame type, but looked up when Dino entered the room. “How’s he doing, Dino?”

“He’s tearing through the things I’m teaching him, I can tell the Seal is mostly gone by how easy this is coming to him,” he hesitated, “but I want to hit Iemitsu, Reborn. He’s starved for affection. I was teaching him how to feel for the mood of other Sky Flame users so he could differentiate between his own and external feelings, and I don’t think he believed me until he felt for himself that I could care for  _him_.” He retrieved two bottle of electrolytes from the fridge. His tutor eyed him, thoughtfully.

“You have a question, Dino.” Dino laughed. That was Reborn, reading minds.

“Who holds your loyalty, Reborn? Tsuna and the Decimo have mine.” He headed back up the stairs not waiting for the answer. Sensitised to his little brother’s Flames, he could feel them flaring in frustration, and he had no intention of leaving him in that state. Behind him, his Sun felt thoughtful.

“Take a break, Tsuna, and drink this.” He tossed one bottle gently to the other teen, and then wrapped him in his Sky again. “Another use for your Flames, when you can coax them to your will is just what I’ve been doing; you can use it to make sure your Elements know what you really think of them, and like I’m teaching you to intercept another Sky’s Flames before they affect yourself, you can do the same for them.” His lips twitched into a smile. “It’s a really good way to communicate feelings with people who  _really_  don’t want to talk about them, and it’s how I keep others from subverting my own.”

He reached out along his bond to his Sun who had suddenly spiked with anxiety, and wrapped him in his Flames, just in time to shield him from Reborn bringing the weight of his Flames to bear on him in a subtle attempt to find out what he’d meant by ‘Tsuna and the Decimo’.

“Did you feel what I just did?”

Tsuna screwed the lid back on his bottle. “It was like you were reaching else where? There was a strand and you were following it, but I don’t know what that means.”

“Romario is my Sun; I was just making sure he was nearby.” White lie, but he wanted to needle Reborn a little; it was only fair, and perhaps this way he’d know which way the Arcobaleno would jump when Iemitsu and Xanxus arrived in Namimori. “If you feel your Flames, you may find strands that trails away into the distance; they lead to other Flame Users you share a bond with.”

His little brother went very, very quiet, and then lit up like a beacon, rage skittering across the surface of his Flames. Dino hit him with a wash of Harmony, trying to calm him down, but it burnt off. Which was a good thing; it meant that no one would be using it to influence Tsuna anytime soon, but also meant he had an incandescent Sky on his hands. He’d just have to -

“Hurts, hurts, he hurts so much. What are they doing to him, Dino-nii?”

All those who had rings were training, but none of them should be hurting so much to distress Tsuna this much; perhaps earlier on, when Hayato had been being an idiot with his Dynamite, but Shamal had the bomber well in hand.

“Who,” he shook his head, “doesn’t matter; just push your Flames down the bond. Gently! They’ll help whoever it is, Tsuna. Concentrate on helping them, and then take a deep breath and tell me what you felt. And come get a hug, kiddo.”

His little brother hesitated for a moment, but then his Flames vanished almost as suddenly as they’d manifested and Dino had a barnacle again, who he wrapped up in his Flames.

“I think I have a Mist.” The words were muffled in his coat, and Dino had to strain his ears to make sure he caught everything Tsuna said. “And he’s hurting, Dino-nii, and I have to leave him there.” Dino’s eyes widened as he realised who Tsuna had to be referring to. “And he was so grateful that I had reached for him.” His little brother’s flames resurfaced again, and brushed against his own, conveying his gratitude for  _everything_. It made Dino feel humbled.

“Keep wrapping him in your Flame, and he’ll feel a bit better; it’ll get easier with practise. I think I know who it is, but it’ll take a while to check, understood, Tsuna-kun?” He was answered by a nod, and he hugged the teen tighter. Rokudo fucking Mukuro; how the hell had his little brother successfully bonded the other teen? It didn’t matter, but the bonds were still a puzzle, despite more than a century of research. The fact that he had said a lot about his little brother’s strength and his compassion, and his ability to understand and care for his own.

Which is what made a great Sky; his little brother had potential in spades; he wasn’t sure if he would have achieved a bond in the same situation.

“I still have something else to teach you, Tsuna. And we haven’t got much of the afternoon, Reborn let me have, left. You burnt off my Flame subconsciously when I tried to use it to help you earlier; it’s possible to do that intentionally, with varying degrees of subtlety. Your Flames know what your normal is, so if you Flare them just beyond your skin periodically, they’ll burn away anything ‘foreign’.” Tsuna looked worried. “Don’t worry; bonds to Elements seem to be excluded for some reason. As are Flame traces from,” he searched for the right word, “not family as in blood, but chosen Family? It’s how I know I trust someone at a subconscious level, when I have to work to burn their traces off.” He smiled a little ruefully; “Kyoya’s getting under my skin. It’s getting harder and harder to remove his traces.”

Tsuna blinked. “Dino-nii, you keep talking about  _seeing_  Flames. How? I can only see them in Hyper Dying Will Mode.”

Dino smacked his forehead. “I knew I was forgetting something. Pull a bit of your Flames into your eyes and look through it? That’s what works for me. Just don’t look at Reborn with it ‘on’. The Pacifier he wears is  _weird_. Let me do it for you, and then you can experiment later.” He swiped a Flame over Tsuna’s left eye. “Close your right one and look through your left for me. I should be a yellowy-orange color; there’ll be a yellow-and-orange strand trailing off to Romario, and purple splashes from my student. Can you see it?”

Tsuna nodded, and Dino swiped the Flame back again, peeling the Flame lens back again.

“Now. Come have another hug, and then I need to drag my student off for some more training; Reborn’s orders, and I believe you have a technique to practise with him. Xanxus might not be planning to kill you, but if it’s the technique I think it is, it may still save your life - or that of one of your friends - in the near future, so it’s important.” His addition was probably a little cruel, but over the year he’d known Tsuna, he’d figured out how to motivate him best, and it explained where the darker tinge to his Sky Flame came from.

He wrapped his little brother back up in his Flames again, and his Flames purred in contentment at his presence, before he reluctantly let him go.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Remix/Rewrite] Sibling Skies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12150576) by [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare)




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